Rory McIlroy won the 2014 British Open at Royal Liverpool.  He built a big lead over the first three days, and then held off final-round charges by Sergio Garcia and Rickie Fowler to win by a couple of shots.

Here is a boring video montage put out by “The Open Championship”.

And here is actually something that might be interesting. ESPN’s Sport Science takes a look at how Rory can hit his driver so far despite being a little lacking in, ummm…stature.

Rory’s swing is pretty much exactly as Ben Hogan described the golf swing in his famous book “Five Lessons: the Modern Fundamentals of Golf“.

A few weeks ago my friend Henry wrote a great Facebook Status about the Stages of Golf to which I think every golfer can relate.

The other day I was trying to find a good tip or something funny online and stumbled upon a somewhat similar article written for the New Yorker by Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm creator Larry David. I think if you ever watch Curb you can visualize Larry acting out every one of his stages with his pseudo-grin on his face as he yells and curses. This article could be a great episode of Curb.

You can find the article here.

I am calling it now.  Mo Martin’s approach shot on the 72nd hole is the shot of the year in golf. It was the perfect shot at the perfect time, and with the shot she won the 2014 Ricoh Women’s British Open.

Here is the shot.

With the win, Mo went from 362nd to 52nd in our Power Rankings.

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Martin Kaymer lapped the field at Pinehurst, building a big lead on Thursday and Friday, and then maintained that lead on the weekend to win the U.S. Open.  In case you missed the final round, here are some highlights.

Kaymer’s win helped him climb the Power Rankings from 28th to 8th (or now the third highest ranked male golfer behind Henrik Stenson and Adam Scott).

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My friend Henry posted this on Facebook after playing his “usual” round of golf.

Stages of golf … and the thoughts that go through my head in a typical round of golf.

Hole 1: Optimistic – “I think this will be a good round. I was hitting it well at the range. I just have to keep doing the same thing.”
Hole 2: Confidence – “See! I can play this game.”
Hole 3: Arrogance – “I think I’ll put a little mustard on this one and show the guys I came to play.”
Hole 4: Denial – “I didn’t hit it square on the ball but I still hit it well.”
Hole 5: Blame – “There must have been a gust of wind that pushed my shot into the hazard.”
Hole 6: Confusion – “What the heck am I doing wrong NOW?!”
Hole 7: Analytical – “Am I lifting my head? Did I shift my weight back? Was my club face open?”
Hole 8: Anger – “Stupid f—ing game!”
Hole 9: Futility – “Doesn’t matter what I do for the rest of this round, my game is screwed.”
Hole 10: Ultimatum – “If I don’t par this hole, I’m giving up golf for good.”
Hole 11: Reneging – “If I don’t par THIS hole, I’m giving up golf for good.”
Hole 12: Justification – “If this game isn’t difficult, then we wouldn’t play it.”
Hole 13: Spiritual – “Dear God, just let me par this hole.”
Hole 14: Atheism – “There is no God.”
Hole 15: Bargaining – “I’ll be happy if I can just bogey this hole.”
Hole 16: Self-deprecating – “I SUCK!”
Hole 17: Retrospective – “Those were some good shots I made back at #1”
Hole 18: Acceptance – “I need to head back to the range and work on my swing.”
Walking back to the car: Masochistic – “So, when do we play the next round?”